Thurlow Premier Hadleigh United 2 Long Melford 0 Hadleigh’s newly appointed first team manager Christian Appleford watched this match from the stand, leaving joint interim managers Andy Lambert and Andrew Crisp in charge – and they masterminded a crucial win over the visitors to see them move out of the relegation spots.
Melford Jacob Brown tested keeper Nick Punter with a first minute shot, before Hadleigh won the first corner with Melford scrambling the ball clear.
Hadleigh took the lead on 12 minutes when a superb delivery into the area by James Ross was controlled by Kyle Cassell to score with a well placed shot.
Hadleigh’s Kieran Turner then fired just wide as Melford struggled to get into the match.
The home side scored their second goal on 21 minutes when a solo run by Kieran Turner culminated with his powerful low shot leaving 16-year-old Melford keeper Michael Bett a bystander.
As half-time approached Melford’s Pablo Chaves fired over from a Kieran Michaels pass, before Charlie Howlett headed clear to deny Chaves a chance.
The second half turned out to be an uninspiring affair although Melford did create chances as they looked to pull goals back, but the attackers lacked any power as they put in tame shots which were easily dealt with by the home defence.
Hadleigh were still dangerous when they did attack, but Melford’s defence coped well to deny any further scoring by the hosts, who grabbed the vital three points.
Hadleigh Reserves came back from being a goal down at Thetford to win 2-1 with goals from Sean Liggett and Ben Regan.
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